Tafsiran Bilangan 1:50: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Sforno & Rabbeinu Bahya

“You shall put the Levites in charge” [1:50]. Ramban writes. The Holy One ordered Moses to count the Levites himself, and he should not take Aaron or other chieftains to help count them. However, Moses was not arrogant and took Aaron to help, and did not want to make himself important. Therefore, the verse says at the end of the portion, “all the Levites whom Moses and Aaron recorded” [4:46]. Here the word Aaron was dotted. There was a dot over each letter. This shows us that Aaron was not commanded by the Holy One explicitly to count the Levites, but Moses himself took Aaron to help count. He did not want to make himself important, since Moses assigned each Levite to his service. He also added the chieftains, expecting that he would also honor them that they should also participate. He should not rule alone, even if he was the most important person, as Moses was. Afterwards, the Holy One agreed that Moses had done rightly in taking Aaron to help count, as the verse says, “whom Moses and Aaron recorded at the command of the Lord” [4:37]. That is to say, Moses counted them with Aaron as God had commanded.²⁷Ramban, Numbers, 1:47.

Baal ha-Turim writes. It is written here, “you shall put the Levites in charge” [1:50]. Elsewhere, the verse says, “appoint a wicked man over him” [Psalms, 109:6]. This shows, as the Talmud writes, when a person is appointed a ruler on the earth, then he is placed as an evildoer, above in heaven. That is to say, when one is made a ruler in the community or the land, many people are envious of him. There are many opposed to him and argue against him. He must also argue with them and he must battle. The arguments tear at him. He wants to show his rulership against them and through this he comes to sins and great arguments. He becomes an evildoer through this.²⁸Baal ha-Turim, Numbers, 1:50.

ואתה הפקד את הלוים BUT THOU SHALT APPOINT THE LEVITES OVERSEERS [OVER THE TABERNACLE etc.] — Understand the word הפקד as the Targum does: ,מני “appoint”; it (the word מני) is an expression for appointing a person to control that thing over which he has been appointed; similar is, (Esther 2:3) “and let the king appoint (ויפקד) officers”.